Almoravid Emirate

The Almoravid Emirate was a Moorish dynasty that ruled over North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula from 1040 to 1147, replacing the Caliphate of Cordoba and preceding the Almohads. The Almoravids were founded by Abdallah ibn Yasin, a theologian who advocated a more traditional Islam than the art-embracing new incarnation of Islam seen in the taifas (city-states) in al-Andalus. The Almoravids founded the city of Marrakesh in Morocco in 1062, and they became a very powerful empire after taking over much of Spain from the smaller Islamic emirs in the late 11th century, and the Almoravids of Yusuf ibn Tashfin decisively defeated King Alfonso VI of Castile at the Battle of Sagrajas in 1086. However, the empire was unable to quell tribal rebellions back home in North Africa, leading to the collapse of the empire and the rise of the Almohad Caliphate in its stead.